Fluorescent lighting fixtures are in widespread use for providing illumination and have gained great acceptance because of the reduced cost of operation compared with the lumen output of comparable incandescent fixtures. There are, however, many shortcomings in the existing fixtures mainly because of their inefficient use of the available light. For example, it is rather common to utilize a translucent cover over the fixture which, in some instances, tends to disperse the light more evenly in the area illuminated but decreases the lumen output. A further deficiency is found in the manner in which the housings are constructed. The housings, for example, are merely rectangular boxes painted white to reflect some of the light back out into the room, which structure is inefficient.
In the past, there have been some attempts at arranging fluorescent lamps in vertical alignment as, for example, in the Florence Pat., U.S. No. 3,591,798 and the Doane Pat., U.S. No. 2,240,179. There has also been some activity at developing in direct lighting fixtures as seen, for example, in the Lewin Pat. U.S. No. 4,388,675 where a plurality of inverted V-channels are positioned behind fluorescent tubes in the fixture. While the prior art patents do offer some interesting approaches with respect to particular situations, none of them individually or in combination disclose or suggest the invention defined by the appended claims.